Tag Archives: Write-a-novel

Explore the voice and narrative point of view in your story by writing a short story using your protagonist. Craig offers a short fiction example using the running novel example in this article series, The Integrity of Gus the Plumber.

A recording of this short story can be downloaded from Craig’s Podcast. You can subscribe for free on iTunes. Just visit the iTunes store and search using the words Craig Nybo. By subscribing, you can listen to many of his stories.

Some authors pound their staves, declaring like town criers, that the best place to start when writing any story is by exploring the main characters. These authors are correct in this sentiment. There are other authors who, with perhaps an even larger staff, pound even harder, shouting that plot is the place to start and that without conflict found only in plot structure, character can not be fully fleshed out. These authors are also correct.

Note: I realize it’s been a while since I have written on this series. The reason hasn’t been because I struggle with laying out my novel writing method; the reason is, however, that I have struggled with some plot problems in the sample story embedded in this series about Gus the Plumber. I had to […]

When writing a long form piece like a novel or a feature screenplay, it is helpful to employ a mechanical approach to building out your story. A detailed plan is like a skeleton. Once all the bones are in place, you can release your creative side and flesh out the skeleton with unbridled character, description, and voice without having to think about where your story will wander next. Act II in your 3-act breakdown is perhaps the most mechanical part of the story building process.

Now that you have established a great foundation of conflict for your story, it’s time to put the finishing touches on act 1 of your 3-act breakdown. I love this phase of the process because I get to see the story bloom like a flower.

During this exercise, you will be forced to explore the feasibility of your story. You will have to face plot problems head on and work them out. You will discover nuances to your story that you haven’t yet considered. You will open new characters and log them into your character document. You will give yourself research assignments.

Get ready to roll up your sleeves; its time to put some real elbow grease into your story structure. By now you have a good idea of what your story is going to be. You have probably been working on it in your head even when you are away from your word processor. The more you think about your story, the quicker you will find ways to add twists and turns to the plot and nuances to the characters. But it is essential to put your ideas down on paper.

Write what you know: It’s an old mantra that writers hear all the time from keynote speakers at writing conferences. Although it is important for you to write within the spectrum of your experience, it is also important to write a compelling story that convinces readers of the legitimacy of setting, feasibility, and character sincerity.

By now you have a living story in your head. It’s scratching and clawing from the inside, trying to get out. To this point, you have barely dipped your pen in the inkwell by writing a logline and theme. You have started to organize your approach by putting together a story canon. It’s now time to craft a story skeleton upon which you can later hang all of the necessary organs and flesh (in some cases quite a gory endeavor). Time to add to your treatment document.

Living as a writer, whether you are published or not, has many perks. The greatest of which, in my opinion, is the constant and unstoppable parade of stories in your head. Now that you have reached the point where you have written a logline and followed up with theme, the creative energy is undoubtedly sparking. You find yourself thinking about your story often. You can’t help it. You can be anywhere, doing anything, and your story comes to mind. Your characters speak to you (hopefully you don’t converse with them—audibly at least). The plot of your story begins to roll out on the floor of your imagination like a tapestry of color and intersecting lines. You smell what your characters smell; you see what your characters see; you sympathize with their pain and revel in their triumphs.

NOTE: These articles work as a step-by-step guide. To get the most out of them, you should start from the first article in this series.

Now that you have an effective logline written for your novel, it’s time to breath life into your idea by giving it a clearly defined theme. You might be thinking, “Theme? Come on, Craig, I’m not writing one of Aesop’s fables.” To that I say, not so fast. There is a strong argument for theme. Read on to find out more.